Samurai 7

Samurai 7

Samurai Seven
2004 Gonzo Animax 26 episodes Completed
Sci-Fi Mecha Historical Action
Details & Synopsis
Taking Akira Kurosawa's sacred 1954 masterpiece and rebuilding it as a steampunk-mecha anime was an audacious gamble by Studio Gonzo, one they largely won. Produced to mark the film's 50th anniversary with an astronomical budget to match, the heavy early-2000s CGI is a product of its time, but the story underneath is timeless. Desperate farmers. Mechanized samurai for hire. Bandit warships the size of cities. Gonzo took Kurosawa's philosophical core, the fading relevance of the warrior class, the muddy morality of violence in service of survival, and grafted it faithfully onto a grand sci-fi canvas. Bombastic, respectful, and surprisingly moving. Proof that great storytelling survives any setting.
Alt Title Samurai Seven
Studio Gonzo
Network Animax
Aired 2004
Episodes 26
Genre Sci-Fi, Mecha, Historical, Action
Status Completed
Search Go to ep Filters
Kanna Village Arc (9) Journey Arc (5) Capital Arc (4) War Arc (5) Final Battle Arc (3)
Kanna Village Arc 9 eps 9 canon 📷 9
002 The Pupil Aired Jun 19, 2004 canon 📷 125 ►
Ukyo abducts Kirara almost as soon as the Kanna group begins searching the city, forcing their half-formed recruitment effort into a rescue. Katsushiro and Kikuchiyo both rush in with more enthusiasm than experience, while Kambei, who has not yet agreed to defend Kanna, calmly proves why Kirara's crystal reacted to him. The village finally has the master it came looking for.
003 The Entertainer Aired Jun 26, 2004 canon 📷 133 ►
Kambei accepts Kanna's request and begins choosing the people he is willing to take into a losing fight. Katsushiro and Kikuchiyo encounter Gorobei, a former samurai surviving as a street performer whose arrow-catching act is less a trick than a demonstration of nerve. Kambei sees the judgment behind the performance and recruits him.
Lore Episode 3
004 The Loner Aired Jul 3, 2004 canon 📷 134 ►
Ayamaro's attempts to remove the troublesome samurai escalate from hired killers to his own elite guards. Kambei and Kyuzo finally cross swords, and the brief duel tells both men more than a long introduction could: Kambei knows Kyuzo may be better than him, while Kyuzo discovers an opponent worth finding again. The fight ends unfinished because Kambei already has a promise to keep.
005 The Drifter Aired Jul 10, 2004 canon 📷 135 ►
The search for another samurai leads the group to Heihachi, who is chopping wood instead of looking for a war. He is an unusually useful contradiction for Kambei's team: a swordsman who dislikes killing, an engineer who understands machines, and a man more interested in rice than reputation. His practical skills make him valuable before the group ever reaches Kanna.
006 The Fool Aired Jul 17, 2004 canon 📷 135 ►
The Imperial Envoy is murdered inside Ayamaro's residence and the crime is used to turn the city against the samurai. Kambei's still-incomplete group has to escape a full crackdown rather than win a clean fight, using confusion, timing and a runaway train to get out alive. Kikuchiyo is separated in the chaos and briefly believed dead.
Lore Episode 6
007 The Friend Aired Jul 24, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
Kambei leads the fugitives to Kougakyo and reunites with Shichiroji, the comrade who survived the old war beside him and then built a quieter life. Shichiroji does not need a sales pitch once he understands that Kambei is asking. The reunion gives the group something its newer recruits cannot provide: two veterans who already know how the other thinks under fire.
008 The Guardians Aired Jul 31, 2004 canon 📷 154 ►
The journey passes through Metal City, where the group discovers that the Shikimoribito trade with the Nobuseri under an arrangement protected by treaty. Kambei refuses to start a fight that would endanger everyone sheltering there, but Rikichi and Kikuchiyo cannot accept watching the bandits operate openly. The episode widens the problem from raiders and victims to the people who survive by doing business between them.
Lore Episode 8
009 The Bandits Aired Aug 7, 2004 canon 📷 153 ►
Kikuchiyo's attempt to act on his own leaves him in Nobuseri hands and forces Kambei to plan a rescue inside an ambush. Kyuzo turns on his former partner Hyogo when the trap goes too far, then joins Kambei's group for the least charitable reason possible: he wants the eventual right to duel Kambei himself. The seventh seat is nearly filled, but this is still not a comfortable team.
Journey Arc 5 eps 5 canon 📷 5
010 The Journey Aired Aug 14, 2004 canon 📷 154 ►
With the Nobuseri pursuing them, Kambei divides the travelers into separate routes toward Kanna. Kirara remains suspicious of Kyuzo, whose reason for joining has nothing to do with protecting farmers, until he saves her when the journey turns dangerous. The episode starts converting a collection of recruits into people who may actually trust one another.
011 The Village Aired Aug 21, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
The samurai finally reach Kanna and discover that the village is hiding more than fear. Women and rice have been concealed from the newcomers, evidence that farmers have their own history of surviving warriors as well as bandits. Kambei begins preparing the village for attack while Kikuchiyo reacts personally to the distrust between the people who hired them and the class he is trying to join.
012 The Truth Aired Aug 28, 2004 canon 📷 175 ►
The discovery of a traitor inside Kanna forces the village and the samurai to confront how much fear is still governing both sides. Katsushiro struggles with the first life he has taken, while Kikuchiyo finally reveals the farmer background beneath the mechanical body and the fake family record. His outburst makes the old farmer-versus-samurai divide impossible to discuss as an abstraction.
013 The Attack Aired Sep 4, 2004 canon 📷 150 ►
The Nobuseri advance on Kanna and Kambei's preparations become a real battlefield. Farmers, traps, fortifications and samurai have to work as one defense rather than waiting for seven swordsmen to solve the raid for them. The scale of the machines makes the fight look impossible, which is exactly why the terrain and planning matter.
014 The Offering Aired Sep 11, 2004 canon 📷 150 ►
With the first phase of the Kanna defense underway, Kambei's plan shifts from holding the village to striking inside the Nobuseri force. The defenders prepare an infiltration of the bandits' ship while Ukyo receives word that something unusual is happening in the countryside. Kanna's local battle is beginning to attract attention from people far above it.
Lore Episode 14
Capital Arc 4 eps 4 canon 📷 4
015 The Gun and the Calm Aired Sep 18, 2004 canon 📷 150 ►
The destroyed Nobuseri ship gives Kanna a victory, but not the end of the siege. While the village prepares for the remaining bandits, Heihachi talks with Katsushiro about what surviving a battle actually costs and Kambei shares a quieter conversation with Shichiroji. The episode gives everyone just enough room to understand the danger before the next attack arrives.
Lore Episode 15
016 The Storm Aired Sep 25, 2004 canon 📷 150 ►
The remaining Nobuseri launch their desperate assault on Kanna. The defenses work, but victory stops feeling clean when Gorobei is caught in the fighting and fatally wounded. Kanna survives the attack, yet the first death among the Seven makes clear that protecting the harvest was never going to leave the samurai untouched.
017 The Remembrance Aired Oct 2, 2004 canon 📷 154 ►
After Gorobei's death and the battle for Kanna, the survivors are forced to decide what the victory actually solved. Katsushiro and Kikuchiyo look back on how much the group has changed since the city, while the larger problem behind the Nobuseri remains unresolved. The original village-defense mission is over, but the anime is not.
018 The Emperor Aired Oct 9, 2004 canon 📷 154 ►
Kambei deliberately uses his own arrest to reach the Capital, where the women taken from farming communities have been carried through the same system that profits from the Nobuseri. Entering as a prisoner gives him access that an ordinary assault never could. The story has moved from defending one village to following the people being taken from villages up the chain.
War Arc 5 eps 5 canon 📷 5
019 The Mutiny Aired Oct 16, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
While Kirara, Katsushiro, Kikuchiyo and Komachi try to reach Kambei, the Capital chooses Ukyo as Amanushi's successor and reveals that the merchant heir is one of the old ruler's clones. Ukyo's rise turns the eccentric nuisance from the early episodes into the person who can reshape the entire political system. The samurai are no longer fighting the same enemy they started with.
020 The Execution Aired Oct 23, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
Ukyo begins remaking imperial policy in the image that best serves him. He orders samurai assigned to villages under the celebrated model of the Seven of Kanna while allowing the Nobuseri raids to continue, privately planning to discard the bandits later. Kanna's victory has become propaganda for a ruler building contradictory promises around every side.
021 The Rescue Aired Oct 30, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
Kambei turns his public execution into another escape attempt, only for Ukyo to interrupt the spectacle by pardoning the samurai and freeing the kidnapped women. The rescue succeeds, but on Ukyo's terms and in front of an audience. He is learning to steal the moral value of his opponents' actions without giving up control of the system around them.
Lore Episode 21
022 The Divide Aired Nov 6, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
The alliance that carried the story through Kanna no longer moves as a single unit. Personal loyalties, unfinished promises and different ideas about what should happen next pull the samurai apart just as Ayamaro exposes more of Ukyo's plan. The split matters because the final battle will require people who are no longer fighting for exactly the same reason.
Lore Episode 22
023 The Lies Aired Nov 13, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
Kambei and the others leave Firefly House to begin open war against the Capital, carrying promises made to Kanna and to one another. Katsushiro, separated from Kambei's group, discovers Ukyo's forces moving against the village and has to choose where his responsibility now lies. The road back to Kanna and the road toward the Capital become the same conflict.
Lore Episode 23
Final Battle Arc 3 eps 3 canon 📷 3
024 The Oaths Aired Nov 20, 2004 canon 📷 154 ►
Kanna prepares for another attack while Kambei's group works out how to reach and cripple the Capital itself. The Seven are no longer assembling for one shared village mission; each survivor is carrying a different oath into the same war. The episode is the final breath before the anime brings its political story and its farming village back together.
025 The Last Battle Aired Nov 27, 2004 canon 📷 155 ►
Kambei's group launches the assault on the Capital while Kanna braces for the consequences below. Heihachi and Katsushiro work to sabotage the fortress as the surviving samurai fight their way through its defenses, and the battle takes Kyuzo in the cruelest possible fashion when Katsushiro's gunfire strikes him. The giant machinery is spectacular, but the episode keeps making the cost personal.
026 The Era's End Aired Dec 25, 2004 canon 📷 225 ►
The damaged Capital descends toward Kanna as the remaining fights collapse into one final attempt to save the village. Heihachi and Kikuchiyo do not survive the battle, while Kambei, Katsushiro and Shichiroji live to see the farmers return to planting. After twenty-six episodes of mechanized armies and imperial power, the anime ends where Seven Samurai always wanted the last word to belong: with the people who can keep living after the warriors leave.
ⓘ Legend
canon Episode adapts events from the source manga.
mixed Adapts source material but adds anime-original scenes.
good-filler Anime-original episode generally well-received by fans.
filler Anime-original episode not based on the source manga.
📷 Number of user-uploaded screencaps available for this episode.

Leader of the Seven / War-Weary Master

The brilliant, battle-hardened commander who carries the immense weight of countless lost wars. Kambei is the first samurai recruited by Kirara, and he reluctantly takes on the burden of defending Kanna Village. Wise, deeply honorable, and unmatched in his swordplay, he is a man who fights not for glory or riches, but out of a profound duty to protect the weak. He is the ultimate classic leader.

Young Apprentice

The young, idealistic, and sheltered samurai who desperately wishes to become Kambei’s disciple. Katsushiro starts the series completely naive to the harsh, blood-soaked realities of actual warfare, but his journey is a beautifully painful coming-of-age story. His deep admiration for Kambei and his growing romantic feelings for Kirara push him to shed his innocence and prove himself on the battlefield.

Cyborg Samurai / Loud Underdog

The loudmouthed, gigantic, and completely boisterous mechanical samurai who is originally rejected by Kambei for not being a "true" samurai. Kikuchiyo is a former peasant who had his body fully converted into a colossal cyborg shell just to fight. Carrying a massive chainsaw-like sword, he brings a wildly fun, chaotic energy to the squad, but his fierce empathy for the farmers of Kanna Village makes him the absolute emotional heart of the team.

Stoic Elite / Dual-Wielder

Easily the coolest, most enigmatic figure in the entire show. Cloaked in a striking red coat and wielding double blades with impossible, lethal speed, Kyuzo is a silent, elite killer. He originally serves as a bodyguard to the enemy but joins the team solely for the opportunity to fight Kambei to the death in a fair duel later on. His stoic, untouchable aura and unmatched skill made him an instant fan favorite.

Water Priestess / The Catalyst

The brave, determined Water Priestess of Kanna Village who sets the entire epic in motion. Armed with her dowsing crystal, she ventures into the dangerous, neon-lit city of Kogakyo to recruit samurai who are willing to fight the Nobuseri bandits for nothing more than rice. Kirara is a resilient, deeply empathetic leader in her own right, standing firm in the face of giant mechas and corrupt nobles to save her people.

Street Performer / Acrobat Samurai

A highly skilled, good-natured samurai who survived the great wars by performing street tricks, like dodging arrows and catching swords with his bare hands. Gorobei brings a playful, optimistic, and deeply human energy to the group. Despite his easygoing nature, his battlefield intuition, incredible acrobatics, and tactical awareness make him an indispensable ally and a trusted confidant to Kambei.

Engineer / Rice-Loving Samurai

A cheerful, friendly samurai who would honestly rather chop wood and eat sweet rice than fight. Heihachi is the team's resident engineer and mechanic, responsible for building Kanna Village's defensive systems and heavy weaponry. Though he claims to hate war, his brilliant tactical intellect and deep-seated desire to protect his friends keep him on the front lines, acting as the team's comforting moral hearth.

Kambei's Old Friend / Spearman

Kambei’s fiercely loyal, surviving lieutenant from the great wars. Shichiroji had settled down into a peaceful, comfortable life running a theater in the city, but he immediately drops everything when Kambei calls for his aid. Armed with a unique spear and a prosthetic left arm that acts as a hook, he brings a deeply reassuring, highly professional veteran presence and unparalleled coordination to the defense of Kanna Village.

Ukyou

SPOILER!

Flamboyant Antagonist / Heir to the Throne

The primary antagonist and the absolute definition of a flamboyant, manipulative, and deeply unsettled spoiled brat. The adoptive heir of the corrupt merchant Ayamaro, Ukyou starts as an eccentric nobleman obsessed with amusement but rapidly evolves into a terrifying, highly intelligent tyrant who aims to conquer the Emperor's throne. His theatrical, wildly unpredictable villainy makes him a brilliant, unforgettable foil to the stoic, honorable samurai.

Determined Kanna Farmer

The intense, deeply traumatized Kanna Village farmer who volunteers to help Kirara recruit the samurai. Rikichi is driven by a burning, self-destructive rage against the Nobuseri bandits, who kidnapped his beloved wife, Sanae, years prior. His agonizing struggle to protect his home, mixed with his desperate, raw guilt, grounds the grand mecha conflict of Samurai 7 in a deeply painful, personal reality.

Kirara's Little Sister

Kirara’s adorable, outspoken younger sister who tags along on the dangerous journey to the city. Komachi has a completely fearless, blunt personality that allows her to immediately bond with the giant cyborg Kikuchiyo, essentially becoming his constant companion, sidekick, and emotional anchor. She brings a beautiful, untainted spark of childhood innocence and hope to an otherwise bleak, war-torn world.